


Fair Enough

by taetris



Category: Monsta X (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, F/M, Fairy Tale Style, Fairy!AU, Fantasy, Slow Build, Slow Burn, faery, fairy!jooheon, jooheon - Freeform, lee jooheon - Freeform, monsta x - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-04
Updated: 2017-10-04
Packaged: 2019-01-09 00:07:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,108
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12264849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/taetris/pseuds/taetris
Summary: “As i’ve already mentioned; the older the tree, the more magic it carries,” He started explaining, and although you were still skeptical, you couldn’t help listening, “Since you and your ex boyfriend carved your initials in the wood, you’ve made a contract with the spirit of this tree.”“And that spirit is…?”“Me.”





	Fair Enough

Your arm felt like it was going to fall apart, but that didn’t stop you from frantically chiseling into the wood with your pocket knife. The same one that was responsible for this stupid display of blind trust and irrational infatuation. You would not rest until the initials of you and your ex boyfriend’s name, joined by the outline of a heart in the middle, was completely wiped off the stem of the tree. You didn’t care if it took you an hour, or two hours more, but the evidence of your stupidity will and shall disappear until you can pretend you’d never even met the guy in the first place.

The skin where your fingers angrily clamped around the haft of the knife hurt when it started to turn red, callouses already forming on your otherwise soft and cushy hands. Beads of sweat welled up from your pores as you fervently made it your mission to scrap every inch of carved wood away until there was nothing but a smooth, pale surface left. Chunks of the outer bark were littered around your feet, the knife continuing to mutilate the, by no doubt ancient, tree.

You cursed under your breath, silently wondering why the hell you’d thought it was necessary to carve this fucking deep and bitterly getting reminded of how convinced you’d been that you and him would stay together forever. How pathetic.

Lost in thought of painful memories, you didn’t notice the knife slipping from the smooth stem to carve a chunk out of your finger instead, making you cry out in pain and dropping the sharp tool instantly.

“Fuck! Fucking- shit! Fuck me!” You shouted from the top of your lungs into the empty woods. You couldn’t believe this. How much pain and misfortune must you go through before that bitch of the universe is satisfied?

“That’s a lot of filthy words for such a lovely young lady.”

You looked up from where you were tightly clutching your finger with your hand in an attempt to stop the heavy bleeding, to see a guy you’ve never met before leaning against a tree in front of you, an amused grin plastered on his face and showing two dimples so deep you could drown in them. How long has he been standing there?

“Mind your own business.” you murmured irritably, if not slightly ashamed you’d been caught angrily carving into a tree and hurting yourself in the process. The last thing you needed was to be made fun of by some stranger.

“Ah, well,” he mused, straightening his back and leaving his comfortable position against the tree to slowly make his way over to where you were standing, his gaze following his feet as they treaded on the soft moss before it landed on your face, his head cocked to the side in curiosity, “that’s what i’m doing, actually.”

“What?” You asked him, although not without a slight hostile tone in your voice. You didn’t have the patience or tolerance to indulge in the riddles of some weirdo right now, you were fucking bleeding.

“I mean that you butchering this beautiful tree actually is my own business.” He calmly elaborated for you, though you didn’t get any wiser from it.

“What are you, some kind of forest ranger? Or one of those tree huggers?” You scoffed, rolling your eyes at the thought that this day probably couldn’t get any worse than this.

Oh, how wrong you were.

“No, of course not.” He frowned, visibly taking offense to your presumptions. “I’m a fairy.”

There were a few seconds of silence before a laugh erupted from your chest when you took in his dead serious expression. He looked so convinced of what he was saying, you were almost tempted to believe him for a second. There was no sign of joking or amusement to detect in his features as he waited until you were done laughing in his face. Damn, he was good. That’s some serious self-control.

“Listen, dude, that’s funny and all but in case you haven’t noticed,” You gestured at your wounded finger, “I’m kind of busy at the moment and i don’t really have the patience to deal with this, so if you don’t mind-”

You suddenly felt your phone getting slapped out of your hand, and immediately snapped your head around to look at the culprit who stole it, but saw no one.

“You don’t even have service here, so don’t bother.” He let you know while he carded a hand through his platinum blonde curls.

You squinted your eyes in caution as you became wary of the stranger’s intentions. Could he actually be crazy? Dangerously so, even? Should you be afraid of him? Make a run for it? Call for help?

Before you could utter a word, he snapped his fingers and a twig promptly moved down from between the branches of the tree you’d been relentlessly hacking into mere minutes ago. You noticed it was wrapped around your phone, only to drop it into the outstretched hand of the freak. Did you see this right? Was the twig moving on its own?! Were you going insane as well?!

You kept blinking your eyes as if that would help but nope, the twig was still leisurely swaying in the air as if it was waiting for another order.

“You still don’t believe me?” He asked you, but your eyes didn’t miss the way he tucked your phone into his pocket while he spoke.

“I have no idea what the fuck is going on but i’m warning you,” you said slowly, quickly scrambling for your knife you’d dropped on the ground earlier, “don’t come near me or you’ll regret it.”

You should’ve figured what would happen the second the blonde weirdo nodded at that stupid tree if your eyes were telling the truth, even if you refused to believe it. A donkey doesn’t bump into the same rock twice, right? Then again, you’re no donkey… Clearly.

“Hey!” you yelled at the twig that stole your phone before as it wrapped itself around your knife now, shamelessly pulling it out of your grip and leaving you defenseless against the strange male in front of you.

“Are you done?” He asked, still as calm as ever and the strangely amused grin back on his face. You felt torn between begrudgingly liking the way it showed those cute dimples and being annoyed at the fact he was getting pleasure out of your misfortune. That, and that either or maybe even both of you were losing it and you were positively terrified.

As the latter was the most prominent emotion surfacing above countless others, and amongst a ton of confused questions whirling around in your head, your primal instincts kicked in and your feet started moving before you realized you were running. The great thing about forests is that there’s no way to get closed in on when there was so much space between the many trees. You had no idea where you were going, it didn’t matter as long as you were safe. If your gut tells you to run, you run.

Unfortunately, your escape didn’t last long when you tripped and fell over a thick root sticking out of the earthy ground, one you could’ve sworn wasn’t there just seconds ago. Wincing, your hand flew to your ankle as it throbbed in pain and you groaned when you realized you’d probably sprained it.

You didn’t even make it that far, that much was obvious when the blonde lunatic appeared in the corner of your eye again. This was it. You didn’t want to think about all the things he’d possibly do to you, but images and doom scenarios were flashing through your mind anyway. Your heart was beating frantically, faintly reminding you of a hummingbird’s wings as your breath got caught in your throat when you raised your eyes to meet his looking down on you.

His arm moved away from his side and you flinched, afraid of what would happen.

But nothing did.

“I’m not going to hurt you so you can stop being dramatic.” He sighed, and when you opened your eyes again, he still had his arm stretched out for you, his hand motioning you to take it.

You hesitantly took the offer, letting him help you get up considering your ankle still hurt. You didn’t say anything, or maybe couldn’t was a better choice of words for now. You didn’t know why you suddenly felt less distressed, but twice as much confused as before. It may or may not have had something to do with his friendly eyes and warm smile, but you refused to let a pretty face lure you into trouble. Your guard was still up.

“My name is Jooheon, by the way,” He kindly introduced himself as you let go of his hand to brush the dirt off your clothes, “so you don’t have to call me ‘dude’ anymore.”

“___,” You recited yours back, although with slight aversion, “as long as i don’t have to call you mr. Fairy or something.”

“Don’t worry about that, miss Human.” He retorted, sending you an exaggerated, sugar sweet smile that made you blush for various reasons.

“That sounds incredibly stupid.”

“I’m glad you agree.”

You gave him a defying look before trying to limp away, tired of all past events and extremely uncomfortable in the company of this…Jooheon.

“Wow wow wow, where do you think you’re going?” He grabbed onto your arm as he asked, making you tear it out of his grip before you turned around with a hiss.

“Home.” You bit, already dreaming of your soft bed and blankets and wondering what to watch on Netflix tonight. You could order some takeout-

“I don’t think so. We’re not done here.”

“Look, du- Jooheon,” you tried to stay calm enough not to punch him as you spoke through gritted teeth, “I’m not sure if you’re crazy or just weird as hell, but i’m not playing with you. I don’t know you. I’m tired and I wanna go home. Let me go before i really lose my patience.”

“Aren’t you forgetting something?”

“What?”

“Your phone?” He deadpanned, reaching for the small device in his back pocket and dangling it in front of you.

You completely forgot about that. He stole your phone.

The tree did.

Shaking your head to get rid of those ridiculous thoughts, you tried to reach for it, only to have it snatched away, your fingers grasping around air.

“Give it back! You have no right!” You hopped on one foot, chasing the blonde male around like an idiot and cursing out loud while he seemed to be having a blast.

“Fine. Fucking keep it, then.” You exhaled after a few minutes of useless skipping and hopping, your breaths leaving your lungs in heavy pants while you tried to recover by leaning against the nearest tree.

“I’ll give it back if you hear me out.”

“Nope, sorry, not interested.” That damn phone wasn’t worth it.

“Alright. Just come and get it then,” He sighed, as if defeated while you were clearly the one who lost, “I promise i won’t run away with it again.”

You were pretty sure you shouldn’t trust him, and you were on the verge of walking, or limping, away with him facing your back as you left. But what if he really was willing to just give it back to you…

slowly turning around, you decided to just go with it and immediately regretted your decision when your mouth fell agape and your eyes were almost bulging out of their sockets.

In front of you was the same obnoxious, blonde, dimpled stranger. Although with a slight addition.

You couldn’t take your eyes off the shiny, translucent wings that reflected the light of the early sunset so beautifully it shimmered like it was embroidered with diamonds. The hues of pinks, purples and greens shining through the fine, crystalline cells that seemed like they were connected by veins of pure silver reminding you of an opal stone, but a thousand times more breath-taking.

“Pretty?” He purred, proudly grinning from ear to ear when he noticed you gawking at them, his most treasured trait.

You nodded before you could comprehend what you were actually nodding at. Pretty. They were so, so pretty. And they were moving.

“Do you believe me now?” He asked, perhaps a little full of himself the way he raised an eyebrow with the question.

For all you knew they could be very, very skilfully crafted fake wings, like those super expensive ones they make for theater shows or movies. But something inside you told you that they were real. That all of this was real, unless you were dreaming.

“Please tell me you’ve been fucking with me all this time,” you finally managed to get past your lips, your voice strained “That i’m not going crazy for imagining all of this.”

“No to both,” he answered right before the wings started to flutter rapidly until he levitated only a few feet off the ground to demonstrate, “You can touch them if you need some reassurance.”

You thought about that for a second as you watched him descend to the ground again, the colorful haze slowly blending into distinctive colors once more when the velocity decreased. You were afraid they might break if you’d touch them, like they were made of the thinnest glass. They looked so delicate, yet apparently strong enough to carry a full grown man.

It was practically impossible not to believe him at this point, after all you’ve seen. But some part of you just couldn’t accept this reality, that things like fairies actually exist? What’s next, vampires? Werewolves, that kind of stuff? You sure as hell weren’t here for that.

“Doubt is one step forward from complete disbelief, so i’ll take it!” Jooheon chimed cheerfully, “Now let’s go, we have work to do.”

“We? W-what?” You spluttered in new-found confusion, simultaneously trying to catch the phone he tossed you, as he’d promised, “Where are you going?”

“Follow me and you’ll see.”

Seeing as you’d come this far and you were still alive and in one piece, aside from the sprained ankle, you decided to follow him, your curiosity getting the better of you. He led you to the same tree he’d caught you carving and hacking into an hour ago and you faintly remembered him saying something like that it was his business too.

“This tree right here is two thousand years old,” Jooheon softly announced, a warm and affectionate tone lacing his voice as he spoke, “The older the soul, the more magic it carries.”

“Magic?” You murmured skeptically, but quickly pressed your lips together in silence when he gave you a stern look.

“This is one of the younger ones under my care,” he continued, gently caressing the stem of the enormous tree, his fingers lingering on where you had mutilated its wood, “I haven’t been its guardian for very long…But it’s already as dear to me as the others.”

A sudden wave of guilt washed through your chest at those words and seeing how lovingly he treated the wood. You wondered if it might have been possible you’ve hurt the poor tree… You only wanted to get rid of bad memories in a spur of pettiness.

“I’m sorry…” You whispered, your hand automatically reaching out to the tree and gently stroking it like Jooheon did. Even though it felt cringy and weird, it felt like the right thing to do.

“That’s a good start.” Jooheon encouraged you, a genuine smile that wasn’t based on sarcasm or mockery tugging on the corner of his lips.

Upon hearing that, you stopped petting the tree to look at your fairy companion questioningly.

“A good start? For what?” Did you need to nurse it back to its former glory or something?

“For fulfilling the demands in the contract.”

You just blinked at him stupidly. What the hell was he talking about?

“Yeah, no, that’s where you lose me again.” You deadpanned, and your former suspicions of him being crazy or this being a dream started to look way more plausible again.

Jooheon sighed, motioning you to sit down with him as he made himself comfortable on a soft piece of moss.

“As i’ve already mentioned; the older the tree, the more magic it carries,” He started explaining, and although you were still skeptical, you couldn’t help listening, “Since you and your ex boyfriend carved your initials in the wood, you’ve made a contract with the spirit of this tree.”

“And that spirit is…?”

“Me.”

This was all too much. This could only be a dream, however you doubted if your mind was even capable of such fantasy. Never in a million years could you even make this up. Were you seriously in the middle of a fairy tale? That even sounded too ridiculous for words!

Your head was spinning, maybe even hurting a little bit, and you were starting to feel nauseous.

“I thought you said you were a fairy.” You countered, slightly annoyed at all those weird terms and the fact you were in the middle of it. You were tired and you just wanted to wake up.

“I am. Fae folk are the spirits of the organisms they’re connected with. In my case, it’s trees.”

You didn’t even know how to be witty anymore. You knew nothing. If this was all true, your entire life would’ve been a lie anyway.

“Are you okay?” He asked, and you could detect a little bit of worry there if you weren’t mistaken.

“No, i’m having an existential crisis.”

“Oh…Sorry about that.”

You both just sat there in silence for a good few minutes, your hands tangled into your hair in an attempt to get a grip on reality and Jooheon awkwardly looking around and avoiding your gaze, since it started to look a little bit crazed.

“Do one more thing that could convince me this is all real,” You finally spoke after you’d somewhat collected your thoughts and got your ducks in a row, “If you’re really magical, prove it.”

“The tree branches stealing your phone and me flying with my wings wasn’t proof enough for you?” He scoffed, but quickly gave in when the look in your eyes went from crazy to straight up deranged.

“One. Thing.” You demanded, and he relented with a sigh.

“How would you feel about flying?”

“You’ve already done that.”

“Yes,” he grinned mischievously and a shiver ran down your spine, “But you haven’t.”


End file.
